The Brief

This story was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat on July 31, 2024, and is the first installment in a series on the efforts to explore East L.A. cityhood.

It’s not uncommon for people to refer to East L.A. as the "City of East L.A." After all, L.A. culture is heavily influenced by East Los Angeles, a region that is home to the historic 1968 Walkouts and where iconic films like Blood In, Blood Out and Stand and Deliver took place.

But East L.A., a region of nearly 120,000 who are mostly Latino, is not a city.

There is no mayor or city council making decisions for East L.A. residents. That’s because East L.A. is an unincorporated community within the county of Los Angeles.

The representative of East L.A. is county Supervisor Hilda Solis, whose district — in addition to East L.A. — includes portions of 20 other cities, as well as dozens of unincorporated communities and City of L.A. neighborhoods that encompass nearly 2 million residents. In East L.A., services like police, street maintenance, building and development, libraries and parks and recreation are deferred to the county.

Given the size of East L.A.’s population and its cultural significance, some residents would like to have more say when it comes to decision-making in the region. They want to know if East L.A. is getting an equitable share of county services. And, they’re calling on the county to be more transparent in how it spends on services across the region.

Efforts to incorporate East L.A. into a city have failed in the past, with one of the latest attempts failing in 2012 when the Local Agency Formation Commission for the County of Los Angeles found that the unincorporated area would not be able to financially sustain cityhood.

Most recently, state Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo — whose jurisdiction includes unincorporated East L.A. — introduced a bill to the state Legislature this spring that seeks to explore whether cityhood, or incorporation, is possible.

The bill, AB 2986, is moving forward, but not without opposition.

What is AB 2986?

The bill calls for a study exploring whether East L.A. has the tax base to be able to sustain itself as its own city or special district.

Introduced by Carrillo in March, the bill initially called for an 11-person task force — made up of stakeholders and residents appointed by the Local Agency Formation Commission for the County of Los Angeles (LAFCO) — to conduct this study. LAFCO, an independent agency that approves the formation of cities, in 2012 denied a proposed incorporation of East L.A.

Guadalupe Mural at La Milagrosa Market in East Los Angeles.

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Antonio Mejías-Rentas

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Boyle Heights Beat

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The bill, however, has since changed.

Now, instead of the LAFCO-appointed task force, the bill establishes the County of Los Angeles as the agency required to submit a feasibility study by March 2025 that analyzes if East L.A. has the fiscal viability to become a special district or city.

Carrillo has made it clear, the bill would not mandate cityhood. It would simply study the possibility of it.

“We want to see better representation,” Carrillo said at a community meeting in April. “I no longer want to hear what’s not feasible, I want to hear what’s possible.”

The bill, as it stands, would cost the county an estimated $14 million, according to a letter from L.A. County Chief Executive Officer Fesia Davenport.

Why did the bill change?

The bill changed after a number of amendments were made at a July 3 hearing of the state senate local government committee. The bill moved forward, as amended, with a 5-0 vote.

These amendments reflect language from two motions that Solis spearheaded and that the rest of the county supervisors unanimously approved in April and May. With these proposals, Solis, who opposes Carrillo’s bill, is saying the county can do this work without overreach from the state.

Wendy Carrillo and Kristie Hernandez at the listening session.

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Andrew Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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Now, the proposed bill mandates the county to conduct the feasibility study, as well as give annual reports detailing services and investments in unincorporated communities with populations of over 10,000. The county would also produce campaigns informing unincorporated area residents about county services, projects and programs.

The latest developments have spurred confusion among some residents who are unsure what this means for the proposed legislation.

Some say the bill was “gutted,” after the LAFCO-established task force — which was to meet quarterly and incorporate “robust community engagement” — was removed to instead appoint the county to prepare the study.

Particularly confusing is the fact that both Solis and Carrillo have touted the amendments as a win, even as the supervisor continues to oppose the legislation.

Solis said that the latest version of the bill, rejects the original language, and reaffirms the bill is “duplicative, fundamentally flawed, and expensive.”

Carrillo, however, said she made these amendments as a way to hold county officials accountable. She told the Beat that the attention brought to the bill ultimately benefits the residents of East L.A., no matter who leads the study.

Who favors this bill?

Supporters of the bill include advocates calling for more transparency on tax revenue generated by the community. They’re also asking if an equitable share of county services are funneled back to East L.A.

Kristie Hernandez, a longtime community organizer and East L.A. resident, supports Carrillo’s efforts and said investments in the community should reflect the fact that the region is the largest unincorporated area in California. Hernandez said residents also have a hard time navigating county bureaucracy.

Business owners like Tony DeMarco gathered at Carrillo’s listening session in April in support of her bill. DeMarco stressed the need for more economic stimulation along Whittier Boulevard.

Other supporters include the East L.A. Coalition, Maravilla Community Advisory Committee, Los Angeles Lowrider Alliance and the Whittier Blvd Merchant Association of East Los Angeles, among others.

If her bill passes, Carrillo said it signals that “the state has invested in having the county report to the Legislature.”

“It starts off a process of real transparency and real local community voices being part of the process,” Carrillo said.

Who opposes it?

Solis and her office have been quick to publicly oppose the bill, noting that cityhood efforts have failed in the past. The supervisor has pointed to the LAFCO study that projected a massive deficit, concluding that the East L.A. area would not be able to adequately support services like a police force and fire department, things the county already provides.

Some East LA residents held signs voicing their opposition to the bill.

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Andrew Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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LAFCO opposes Carrillo’s bill, according to its chief officer Paul Novak.

“We remain opposed to the bill, even in its amended version,” Novak told the Beat.

East Area Progressive Democrats representatives called the bill a “slapdash effort” in a letter addressed to the state Senate. They said the money to fund the study should instead go directly to residents.

Others in East L.A. fear a loss of community services and that their taxes could be raised if cityhood happens down the line. Some have shared those concerns on Solis’s Instagram page and during public comment during a County Board of Supervisors meeting in April.

Among other opponents of the bill are East L.A. Community Corporation, the City of Monterey Park, and dozens of other county, union and grassroots groups.

What happens next?

The seven members of the Senate Appropriations Committee will review the bill in August. The bill still needs to be voted on by the full legislature before heading to the governor’s desk for a signature or veto.

If the governor signs the bill, the county would be required to report its findings by March of 2025. If it fails, the county will still conduct its proposed cityhood feasibility study and report on county investments in East Los Angeles with results to be shared in the early fall.

At a community meeting on Saturday, July 27, Genesis Coronado, a renter in East L.A. said that even if the bill fails, it still spurred conversations about government transparency and holding elected officials accountable, things she marked as a win for all East L.A. residents.

This story first appeared on Long Beach Post.

Inside three water tanks in a tucked-away room at the Aquarium of the Pacific, biologists are tasked with bringing back a population of frogs that once thrived across the state’s mountainous streams but has since reached the brink of extinction.

It’s a program that’s nearly closed out its fifth year with a major milestone: more than 1,000 frogs raised and released into the wild.

That’s more than five times as many mountain yellow-legged frogs — named for the lemon-hued streak along their hind legs — believed to be in the wild when last recorded in 2019, reduced to small pockets of wild streams in the San Gabriel, San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains. By the time the frog was listed under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2002, fewer than 100 adults remained in Southern California. A count in 2020 put the number at about 188 in the wild, though biologists say that figure has almost certainly shifted since.

The species’ collapse is tied to a compounding list of threats: wildfire, mudslides, pesticides, fungal disease, habitat loss and the appetites of non-native trout, bullfrogs and crayfish. It’s a decline so severe that biologists consider the species among the rarest vertebrates on Earth.

Staff at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach are working to change that math, one tadpole at a time.

In the latest release, about 653 of the endangered frogs were returned to their native mountain habitat by staff from the Aquarium of the Pacific, the Los Angeles Zoo and the U.S. Geological Survey. Of those, 394 had been head-started at the aquarium — its largest release of the species yet, bringing its total to 1,032.

The frogs were bred at the Los Angeles Zoo’s breeding program, then transferred to Long Beach as tadpoles, where aquarium staff reared them through metamorphosis into froglets and frogs. The process typically takes one to two years, though the species can remain in its tadpole stage for up to five years, making a given frog’s age something of a mystery even to the people who raised it.

A tadpole chills by the rocks in a tank at the Aquarium of the Pacific, where it is being raised before being released into the local mountains, Tuesday, Sept., 15, 2026

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Thomas R. Cordova.

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Long Beach Post

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Inside the aquarium, the water is engineered to mimic the mountains it’s standing in — kept near 60 degrees in summer, the temperature currently found in the streams the frogs call home, and cooled to around 52 degrees in winter, with reduced UV exposure to simulate the season’s shorter, dimmer days.

The aquarium’s involvement began in 2021, in the aftermath of the 2020 Bobcat Fire, which tore through the central San Gabriel Mountains and destroyed an estimated 95% of the frog’s remaining usable habitat.

“They had salvaged some tadpoles from the fire-impacted areas, and they ended up bringing a handful of them here,” said Erin Lundy, with the aquarium’s conservation team. “And then we also had some captive-bred ones from the L.A. Zoo that year, and that was our first group.”

Since then, the team has expanded to include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which help monitor populations and oversee releases.

Erin Lundy from the Aquarium of the Pacific looks into a tank at frogs as she gets them ready to be released into the local mountains Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026

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Thomas R. Cordova

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Long Beach Post

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As the aquarium’s tadpole numbers have grown, some are now sent to the Santa Ana Zoo each October to continue growing until they’re ready for reintroduction. Frogs are carefully separated by genetics and population of origin, so each can be released back into its native range and preserve healthy genetic lines.

“I think that we have some responsibility to give the animals the best chance that they could possibly have,” Lundy said, “but this is certainly a species that without a good amount of human intervention would not exist to this day.”

Much of the aquarium’s work is now focused on an even more elusive threat than fire: chytrid fungus, a microscopic pathogen that attacks the keratin in amphibian skin, blocking the salt absorption frogs rely on and eventually causing cardiac arrest. It has driven amphibian populations to collapse worldwide, and mountain yellow-legged frogs appear especially vulnerable to it.

“Some amphibian species over time have developed a resistance to chytrid, and so part of the intention of growing so many animals is hoping to find what gene that is that introduces some chytrid resistance,” Lundy said. Researchers are testing whether frogs can be inoculated before release, or whether introducing different microbes to their skin might help them fend off the fungus on their own.

Tadpoles swim in a tank at the Aquarium of the Pacific as they are raised before being released into the local mountains, Tuesday, Sept., 15, 2026

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Thomas R. Cordova

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Long Beach Post

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Lundy has now been on three of the aquarium’s release trips, watching frogs she has cared for — some for years — carried up into the mountains and set loose into the streams they were bred to repopulate. It is, she says, a strange kind of joy.

“It’s a little bittersweet because, oh no, I’ve been taking care of you for so long, but that is the point, so it feels a little bit like Christmas Day,” Lundy said.

Not every frog leaves the same way. Some, she said, shoot off into the current without so much as a pause. Others linger at the water’s edge beside her for a few minutes before finally disappearing beneath the surface.

“Almost feels like they’re saying goodbye,” she said.

Keno’s Restaurant in Anaheim Hills is a family-run business with a vintage feel — and a 15-pound burrito on the menu.

General Manager Shauna Reyes joined Austin Cross on AirTalk, LAist 89.3's daily news show, to talk about what customers can expect at the decades-old steakhouse that has a cafe twist.

About the owners

Vintage photos of Keno's, back when it first opened, and was a 24-hour restaurant.

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Courtesy Greg Rogers

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Keno's originally opened in 1972, gaining enough popularity to expand into a small chain of restaurants. Gus Cooper helped build and operate the Anaheim Hills location since its opening in 1980. The Anaheim Hills location eventually changed hands to Gus' nephew, Steve Cooper, in 1993. Steve Cooper and his family have been running Keno's ever since.

What it's like being a Keno's customer

Photo of Keno's lounge and steakhouse section.

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Courtesy Greg Rogers

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According to Reyes, the ambiance and customer connections are what set Keno's apart.

You can experience the cafe, with a bustling diner feel, or step into their steakhouse, which has a fireplace Reyes says was inspired by the Peppermill in Las Vegas.

Restaurant details

• Keno’s has a live event schedule that includes solo acoustic sets and a Frank Sinatra cover artist.
• In addition to the 15-pound burrito, you can also find a 32-ounce Tomahawk steak on the menu.

Menu items we tried

• The Lumberjack Breakfast
• Monte Cristo
• California Chicken Sandwich
• Tomahawk Steak
  

What should we try next?

What should we try next?

Uber must pay $40 million to the parents of a woman who was struck and killed after an Uber driver left her on an Orange County freeway in 2023, an arbitrator has ruled.

The arbitrator rejected Uber’s arguments that California’s Proposition 22 — a voter-approved law written by Uber and other gig companies that cemented drivers’ status as independent contractors, not employees — shields it from liability for a driver’s actions.

“Prop. 22 does not immunize Uber from vicarious liability” for the wrongdoing of its drivers, Richard Stone, a retired judge who served as the arbitrator, wrote in his July arbitration award. Vicarious liability is indirect liability for the actions of another, such as in instances where the parties have a legal relationship.

In his earlier ruling in March, Stone wrote that when California voters passed Prop. 22 in 2020, they could not have intended to do away with Uber’s liability for its drivers’ actions. He noted that the language in the ballot proposition urging voters to approve it referred to classifying drivers as independent contractors, meaning they would not get standard benefits and protections like employees would.

“There is no reference in key voter materials to the liability of app-based transportation companies,” Stone wrote. “Not a word.”

On Aug. 12, 2023, Uber driver Vu Tran picked up Emily Normandin-Parker and her friend, Luna Moore, from a bar. When Moore started throwing up in the car, Tran stopped at a gore point — the small, triangular area at the off-ramp — on State Route 73. As Tran and Moore argued, Normandin-Parker, 23, was struck and killed after wandering into traffic because she was inebriated, according to the ruling. Stone wrote that it was hard to determine exactly what happened because the testimony of both Moore and Tran were not entirely credible.

Normandin-Parker’s parents and Moore sued Tran and Uber in Orange County Superior Court in September 2023, and the parties agreed to arbitration. Stone awarded Normandin-Parker’s parents, Carol Normandin and Ken Parker, $20 million each, and Moore $300,000.

Uber reported revenue of more than $14 billion and net income of more than $2 billion in its second quarter that ended in June.

Uber spokesperson Gabriela Condarco-Quesada told CalMatters that the company disagrees with the decision.

“We believe the arbitrator was wrong in holding Uber legally responsible for the tragic events of that night,” she said, citing Prop. 22. Uber, along with companies such as DoorDash, Lyft and Instacart, spent more than $200 million on the ballot initiative.

She also said the company’s “thoughts continue to be with the Normandin-Parker family.”

Parker pushed back on what he called a spin campaign by Uber, noting that the company tried to keep them from talking about the arbitrator’s award.

“Their thoughts have never been with us,” he told CalMatters on Thursday, the day he and Normandin appeared on Good Morning America to discuss the case and the death of their daughter, a UCLA graduate.

Parker said Uber has never apologized or acknowledged responsibility, and that throughout the arbitration process the company was “at best aloof and at worst distastefully crass.”

In a November filing, the company argued the incident “was the result of Moore and Normandin-Parker’s extreme intoxication, which was existent because of Moore’s and Normandin-Parker’s intentional conduct — not Tran’s driving.”

The award will help fund the Emily Normandin-Parker Foundation, which her parents created last year. Part of the foundation’s mission will be to hold corporations accountable, particularly in the ride-hailing industry, Parker said. He said that might come through advocacy in legislation, regulations or the “court of public opinion.”

The arbitrator also rejected Uber’s argument that it is not a common carrier that transports people or goods, but a transportation network company because it’s licensed as such by the Public Utilities Code. Stone wrote that Uber could be subject to both public utility rules and a non-transferable legal duty for safety as a common carrier at the same time, citing other cases in which the company was deemed to be a common carrier. Further, he said another California law, Proposition 51, does not apply in this case. Prop. 51 limits liability for non-economic damages to a defendant’s proportionate share of fault. Stone said Uber is 100% responsible for the driver’s actions.

Lawyers for Normandin-Parker’s parents said evidence presented during the arbitration showed Uber had received previous complaints about Tran's driving.

Uber said in a filing that Tran had a valid driver’s license and passed its background check, and that the company had no duty to train Tran beyond that because he was an independent contractor. The company spokesperson said this week that Tran, who can no longer drive for Uber, had completed thousands of trips without any unsafe drop-offs, freeway stops or rider injury.

CalMatters contacted the law firm that represented Tran but did not immediately receive a response.

Stone wrote that he hopes Uber “will learn from this tragic incident … and change the pertinent policies and procedures accordingly. Should it fail to do so, it no doubt engages in that approach at its own substantial risk.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Several Los Angeles-area organizations that serve survivors of domestic violence and people experiencing homelessness say a legal dispute over federal homelessness funding is holding critical dollars hostage.

Groups, now forced to cover up to millions of dollars in annual grant agreements, are running out of reserves, cutting staffing and relying on private donations to keep people housed and services running.

The organizations have had contracts stalled for months in a legal back-and-forth between the Trump administration and the region’s top homeless services agency, which has some programs starving for money.

“If these contracts don't get executed, if HUD doesn't start to reimburse agencies quickly … we're going to see more suffering on the street,” said Myong Kim, chief program officer at the Downtown Women’s Center. “It's going to be more tangible and more visible.”

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development told LAist it's not currently required to execute grant agreements after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an emergency stay while it decides on HUD’s appeal in the coming weeks.

“HUD stands by its commitment and legal right not to continue supporting LAHSA, which even Judge [David O.] Carter and Mayor Karen Bass have acknowledged is an abject failure and riddled with fraud, waste, and abuse,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

The region's top homeless services agency, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, told LAist that it’s not backing down and is actively pursuing legal remedies to force the federal government to honor its commitments.

“Frontline providers have kept lifesaving programs running for months without compensation,” spokesperson Chris Yee said in an email. “Releasing these federal funds is essential to maintaining their operations and protecting services for people who rely on these critical programs.”

Overall, HUD delays are expected to affect more than 50 local service providers, with the bulk of their renewal grants expiring in the next three months, according to LAHSA. Dozens of grants could be affected by the end of this year, totaling nearly $65 million.

A fight over who controls funding

The situation facing these providers is part of a broader delay with HUD's execution of FY2025 Continuum of Care grants, which has affected groups in other parts of the country, such as Ohio.

More than 1,300 of the FY2025 Continuum of Care renewal grant agreements — about one in five — had not been fully executed as of Monday, according to court documents reviewed by LAist. That includes more than 400 agreements that had not been issued by HUD.

But the L.A. grants are not just facing bureaucratic delays — they’ve become entangled in a fight over who controls the region’s federal homelessness funding.

HUD suspended LAHSA from federal grant activity this summer, and LAHSA sued. Some of the organizations’ leaders were hopeful a federal judge could clear the path for their contracts to be paid in August.

That’s when U.S. District Judge David O. Carter issued an order that, among other things, named a dozen service providers for which HUD has failed to execute grant agreements after getting award letters earlier this year. He wrote that the delays leave them without the funds they need to continue operating.

Carter ordered HUD to execute those signed agreements immediately. But about a month later, the order was paused by the Ninth Circuit.

“We expected HUD to immediately execute our grant agreements in compliance with Judge Carter's order,” said Jessica Reed, LAHSA’s director of Continuum of Care, during a LAHSA Commission committee meeting Wednesday. “Obviously, the appeal [by HUD] has continued to hold that up.”

LAist reached out to all 12 organizations named in the order, and several said they’re getting stuck in the middle of the legal dispute.

Groups in limbo for months

House of Ruth in Pomona, a roughly 50-year-old domestic violence agency that offers crisis, outreach, housing and legal services, has a roughly $286,000 grant tied up in the litigation, according to Pat Bell, CEO. The grant, which hasn’t been executed since April, pays for the organization’s transitional housing shelter.

Bell said LAHSA has told her an executed contract was unlikely to come anytime soon, forcing House of Ruth to float the funds in the meantime. The organization is now reducing staffing for its transitional shelter, including layoffs and cutting hours, according to Bell.

“We have six months of paychecks going out to the staff that are providing the transitional shelter services without any reimbursement,” Bell said.

House of Ruth is not an isolated example.

The Downtown Women’s Center based in Skid Row, which provides housing, employment and mental health services to survivors of violence experiencing homelessness, has been waiting on a $3.5 million annual contract since July, according to Kim, the chief program officer. The renewal contract supports rent payments for survivors of domestic violence, she said.

The Downtown Women’s Center has been covering about $150,000 a month in costs with private donations since then, but Kim noted that’s “not going to last forever.”

“In the midst of all the politics, and in the midst of all the back and forth, we really need to remember that these are individual lives — women, their children, their dependents — that are at risk and that are counting on us to move things forward,” Kim said.

‘Wreaking havoc’

The People Concern, an L.A. County nonprofit that provides housing and services to people experiencing homelessness and survivors of domestic violence, has two outstanding contracts for a little more than $2.2 million combined, according to John Maceri, CEO. He said a few other contracts that are set to end in the coming months could also be affected, bringing the total to about $3.3 million.

The People Concern is relying on donations and reserves, but Maceri said cash flow is a particularly big challenge, and it’s “really wreaking havoc in the system.”

He said they’re approaching an untenable situation.

“Ultimately, the people who are hurt are the people that we're serving,” Maceri said. “Because at some point, organizations cannot continue to finance debt.”

Jewish Family Service L.A. has been waiting since April on a contract for its transitional shelter that supports women and children who survived domestic violence.

Eli Veitzer, CEO, said the organization is tapping into its reserves to cover the roughly $300,000 portion of annual costs to keep the shelter open until at least next summer. But that can’t be a long-term solution, he noted.

Veitzer said LAHSA has fallen short in critical ways, but blocking funding to the agency without another path for service providers “essentially shuts down the system.”

“HUD hasn't proposed an alternative method for getting these funds to the providers and the clients who need those services, and that's the part that is the most upsetting,” Veitzer said. “There's a complete disregard for the impact of the people in L.A. County who need these services desperately, and who benefit from these services.”

Why it matters

Scott Cummings, a professor of legal ethics at the UCLA School of Law, told LAist it’s not unusual to seek a stay after an order like Carter’s. But litigation takes time, and the programs are effectively put on hold while it’s worked out in court.

“There are short-term wins for the [Trump] administration in just playing this delay game,” Cummings said. “The delay can actually last a long time, and in the meantime, the programs are suffering, and the people they're serving are suffering.”

L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath commented on the contracts in Tuesday’s board of supervisors meeting, saying: “A top concern is the 2025 LAHSA COC contracts that HUD is refusing to execute, although those programs are already operating without funding.”

Horvath requested an update next Tuesday from the county’s Department of Homeless Services and Housing to go over the remaining contracts at LAHSA.

The Ninth Circuit is expected to hear arguments next Tuesday, according to court documents, and Carter has scheduled a status conference for the week after.

LAist’s Aaron Schrank contributed to this story.